Circuit Skills: Fiber Optics

Experiment with the Transmission of Sound as Light

By Collin Cunningham

Not all electronic signals are communicated via electricity. By transmitting information in the form of light, we can avoid many limitations inherent to traditional wiring. On top of all those benefits – fiber optics are just straight-up cool!

Circuit Skills: Fber Optics Video

Curious minds interested in experimenting with the transmission of sound as light should check out the Fiber Optics Kit I used in this video. It could also be interesting to exploit the kit's ability to send a signal much further.

Fiber Optics Kit features:

Fiber Optics are long and very thin strands of glass. They are bundled together to form optical cables that transmit light signals. Optical fiber come in two types, single and multi-mode fibers.

A single optical fiber has the following parts:
• Core – Thin glass center of the fiber where the light travels
• Cladding – Outer optical material surrounding the core that reflects the light back into the core
• Buffer coating – Plastic coating that protects the fiber from damage and moisture